I have sympathy for Tory defectors like Heidi Allen, but the Lib Dems are standing in the way of a united opposition

Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

I have been a fan of Heidi Allen since she made her maiden speech in parliament and along with Sarah Wollaston, who both stood out as true examples of One Nation conservatism which has since hit the buffers and has become a right-wing ideological faction, led by a prime minister who appears to support this trend.

The Lib Dems are providing a natural home for these defectors but I am still concerned about the obduracy of this party and the fact that their opposition to Jeremy Corbyn as a caretaker leader might be whistling while Brexit is burning. A much more consensual approach needs to happen and fast.

Jo Swinson​ may be correct that the numbers are not there but this is a pivotal time for Britain. The opposition parties must provide a “united front” against this kamikaze government and stop this no-deal fiasco because it appears that Boris Johnson is on course for just that on 31 October, regardless of the law.

Judith A Daniels
Norfolk

Can’t McDonnell count?

In insisting that Jeremy Corbyn must head any caretaker government, John McDonnell has failed to calculate that there aren’t the numbers for his leader to command a majority in the Commons given, as he knows, independent ex-Tory and ex-Labour MPs won’t back him. It doesn’t bode well for the country if the man aiming to become our next chancellor of the exchequer can’t add up.

Roger Hinds
Surrey

Brexit and Gibraltar

It is perplexing that the rock of Gibraltar has virtually disappeared from any public debate on Brexit. Gibraltar remains a deeply contentious issue for Britain and Spain especially with the surge of nationalism and anarchist and separatist voices in Catalonia. Although it has close similarities with Northern Ireland, there is no talk about it remaining or leaving the European customs union. Nor is there mention of it becoming an antithesis to the geographical integrity of Spain or a threat to the cross-border movement of goods, people, vehicles, labourers and tourists between mainland Spain and the UK. Brexit might be much more complicated than Boris Johnson et al foresee.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob​
London NW2

Electoral reform

It is good to see a letter in your paper from the Electoral Reform Society (Letters, 7 October). It reminded me that a considerable time ago I contacted the society to ask for its view on the system of weighting MPs votes in the Commons in proportion to the number of votes it took to get party or independent members elected. The society replied that it was minded to agree with Roy Jenkins’ report on proportional representation in which he said, and I paraphrase, I can’t be bothered to think about this idea.

I still don’t understand why the weighted vote idea is not worth considering, and would be delighted if someone would explain what is wrong with it.

I would also be delighted to hear what the society has proposed (and achieved) over the years.

Tony Baker
Thirsk, North Yorkshire

Scottish independence

Keith Howell suggests (Letters, 7 October) that voters will be disinclined to vote Labour at the next election because they fear a Labour government would agree to a referendum on Scottish independence.

He presumably means English Labour voters, as in Scotland there is not enough of them to fill a telephone box. Will they then be attracted to the Tories whose members were recently surveyed to be prepared to sacrifice Scotland and even Northern Ireland if it would lead to a hard Brexit?

Scotland was conned in the last independence referendum to vote for the union to maintain membership of the EU. It is the right of the Scottish people to determine their future. They will not make the same mistake again.

Kenneth Paterson
Linlithgow, West Lothian

Has XR gone too far?

When Extinction Rebellion started up last year, I was unsure about it. I was (and still am) in complete agreement that climate change is an urgent and extreme threat to an organised and peaceful society. I thought the organisation was chaotic and over-idealistic, and its representatives sometimes ill-informed. But I was prepared to give it time to mature as a movement. It has failed in that respect. Rather than appreciate how its part in raising awareness is rapidly reaching the previously ignorant, uncommitted or obstructive to such arguments, it has failed to consider the extent of the inevitable kickback to its continued disruption.

In the same way that Republican supporters are loving the “Make America Great Again” packs of environmentally destructive plastic straws promoted by Mr Trump, I predict that bloody-minded and reactionary elements of society will now deliberately and successfully deny the environmental messages that are so important. XR should have sat back and waited a little to see how its early work might have taken on a life of its own. It might argue that there’s no time, but there’s even less if what it is saying is ignored.

Patrick Cosgrove​
Shropshire